The Carter Woodson Project - Welcome

In the Spring of 2011, faculty and students at Marshall University launched a local history project to document and share African American history in West Virginia with other students, educators, and community members throughout the state. Named for the "father of black history," Huntington's own Carter G. Woodson, this project has produced original research on topics ranging from black Civil War veterans to black institutions and school desegregation. The students have conducted dozens of oral history interviews and traveled to archives throughout the state in pursuit of these valued pieces of our state's history. I want to thank the Honors College for their support of the project. It was an honor to work with such talented and motivated undergraduates and I hope to add to this website in future semesters.

It is our hope that this website will continue the legacy of researchers and educators like Carter G. Woodson, Booker T. Washington, and Memphis Tennessee Garrison. Like these West Virginians, we believe that local people can work miracles if they are armed with a knowledge of who they are and where they came from. Carter Woodson spent every day of his life with a single-minded determination to demonstrate the importance of African American History. Booker T. Washington dedicated his life to building educational institutions in an era when African Americans lived behind the veil of segregation. Memphis Tennessee Garrison was an educator whose classroom spread beyond her schoolhouse door and infected the community and the nation with her love of learning. As West Virginians, this is our legacy. As sons and daughters of Marshall, we share our history with you.

David J. Trowbridge
Director of African and African American Studies (AAAS)
Assistant Professor of History
Marshall University